US Print Sales Slip in 2013

Posted at 6:01PM Sunday 05 Jan 2014

Sales of print books through outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan's retail & club channel fell 2.5%, to 501.6 million units, in 2013, compared to 2012. Total print units this year were 620 million; for the first time, that total includes sales from Walmart, which became part of BookScan's mass merchandiser and other channel in 2013, the addition of which skews year-over-year comparisons. The retail & club channel includes all bookstores plus Amazon and accounted for approximately 81% of units sold through outlets that report to BookScan. Retail & club unit sales fell 11.4% between 2011 and 2012; the 2011 total includes sales from the liquidation of Borders. Between 2011 and 2012 total units (which do not include Walmart figures) fell about 9%.